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For its 2005-06 season,
Moving Current Dance
Collective is
emphasizing aerial
dance, and this
weekend's concert gets
the season under way
with a couple of
airborne works that are
inventive and
fascinating.
Cindy Hennessy, one of
the co-founders of
Moving Current, has
reworked a piece called
"Without a Map" that
premiered in 1997. It
opens the performance
fairly effectively and
serves as a foreshadow
of a gorgeous new aerial
work by Tucson, Ariz.,
guest artist Nathan
Dryden, the last piece
in the concert.
Between those two aerial
works are four shorter,
floor-bound pieces.
Together, the six works
make for a lovely and
occasionally stirring
evening of dance.
Hennessy's piece is set
among 12 bamboo stalks
that stretch from the
floor to the ceiling.
Two dancers are
suspended from the
ceiling in harnesses;
others move about on the
floor, occasionally
creeping up the stalks
and interacting with
their colleagues above.
The piece has a nice
emotional ebb and flow,
and a beautiful
monochromatic look and
fascinating music
(performed in part by
the Thai Elephant
Orchestra). But it ends
unsatisfactorily; it
just sort of peters out,
rather than coming to a
conclusion.
Paradoxically, the
dancers in the air seem
somewhat clumsy compared
to the ones on the
ground. The harnesses
look awkward and
obtrusive and damage the
illusion of
weightlessness.
Dryden's piece, titled
"Five Solos:
Accumulation of Light,"
has dancers on three
trapezes. They're fixed
to the ceiling at a
single point, so the
dancers can swing, pivot
and twirl above the
stage.
The trapezes somehow
have a more ethereal
quality than the
utilitarian harnesses
and become integral to
the work.
The piece moves through
several segments of
varying moods. An
opening scene of
intimacy evolves into a
melancholy scene that
seems to be a statement
of loss. It's sensual
and erotic in the most
noble sense of the word.
The piece maintains its
grace, but not its
emotional momentum. The
last half of
"Accumulation of Light"
is nice to watch, but
doesn't have the impact
of the its first half.
The concert features two
other wonderful
premieres. Erin
Cardinal's "Air for Two"
consists of two lovely
and simple duets set to
Mozart and Delibes.
Cardinal finds an
appealing sprightliness
in the heart of the
music, which its the
surface seems sedate.
Michael Foley's "Sirnes
in the House of Sleep"
is a pleasing trifle
that features impressive
dancing from Katie Cole,
Shana Perkins and
Courtney Smith. |
